Biography of Elizabeth Montagu 1626-

Paternal Family Tree: Montagu

Around 1626 Elizabeth Montagu was born to Sidney Montagu (age 45) and Paulina Pepys (age 44).

Before 1642 Gilbert Pickering 1st Baronet (age 31) and Elizabeth Montagu (age 15) were married.

In 1642 [her daughter] Elizabeth Pickering was born to [her husband] Gilbert Pickering 1st Baronet (age 31) and Elizabeth Montagu (age 16).

On 17 Jan 1644 [her father] Sidney Montagu (age 63) and [her step-mother] Anne Isham were married. He died a month later.

In 1650 [her son] Sidney Pickering was born to [her husband] Gilbert Pickering 1st Baronet (age 39) and Elizabeth Montagu (age 24).

In 1652 [her son] Gilbert Pickering was born to [her husband] Gilbert Pickering 1st Baronet (age 41) and Elizabeth Montagu (age 26).

Pepy's Diary. 14 Jun 1660. Up to my Lord and from him to the Treasurer of the Navy for £500. After that to a tavern with Washington the Purser, very gallant, and ate and drank. To Mr. Crew's (age 62) and laid my money. To my Lady Pickering (age 34) with the plate that she did give my Lord the other day. Then to Will's and met William Symons and Doling and Luellin, and with them to the Bull-head, and then to a new alehouse in Brewer's Yard, where Winter that had the fray with Stoakes, and from them to my father's (age 59).

Pepy's Diary. 19 Jun 1660. Called on betimes by Murford, who showed me five pieces to get a business done for him and I am resolved to do it., Much business at my Lord's. This morning my Lord went into the House of Commons, and there had the thanks of the House, in the name of the Parliament and Commons of England, for his late service to his King and Country. A motion was made for a reward for him, but it was quashed by Mr. Annesly, who, above most men, is engaged to my Lord's and Mr. Crew's (age 62) families. Meeting with Captain Stoakes at Whitehall, I dined with him and Mr. Gullop, a parson (with whom afterwards I was much offended at his importunity and impertinence, such another as Elborough1), and Mr. Butler, who complimented much after the same manner as the parson did. After that towards my Lord's at Mr. Crew's, but was met with by a servant of my Lady Pickering (age 34), who took me to her and she told me the story of her husband's case and desired my assistance with my Lord, and did give me, wrapped up in paper, £5 in silver. After that to my Lord's, and with him to Whitehall and my Lady Pickering. My Lord went at night with the King to Baynard's Castle' to supper, and I home to my father's (age 59) to bed. my wife and the girl and dog came home to-day. When I came home I found a quantity of chocolate left for me, I know not from whom. We hear of W. Howe being sick to-day, but he was well at night.

Note 1. Thomas Elborough was one of Pepys's schoolfellows, and afterwards curate of St. Lawrence Poultney.

Pepy's Diary. 20 Jun 1660. Up by 4 in the morning to write letters to sea and a commission for him that Murford solicited for. Called on by Captain Sparling, who did give me my Dutch money again, and so much as he had changed into English money, by which my mind was eased of a great deal of trouble. Some other sea captains. I did give them a good morning draught, and so to my Lord (who lay long in bed this day, because he came home late from supper with the King). With my Lord to the Parliament House, and, after that, with him to General Monk's (age 51), where he dined at the Cock-pit. I home and dined with my wife, now making all things ready there again. Thence to my Lady Pickering (age 34), who did give me the best intelligence about the Wardrobe. Afterwards to the Cockpit to my Lord with Mr. Townsend, one formerly and now again to be employed as Deputy of the Wardrobe. Thence to the Admiralty, and despatched away Mr. Cooke to sea; whose business was a letter from my Lord about Mr. G. Montagu (age 37) to be chosen as a Parliament-man in my Lord's room at Dover;' and another to the Vice-Admiral to give my Lord a constant account of all things in the fleet, merely that he may thereby keep up his power there; another letter to Captn. Cuttance to send the barge that brought the King on shore, to Hinchingbroke by Lynne. To my own house, meeting G. Vines, and drank with him at Charing Cross, now the King's (age 30) Head Tavern. With my wife to my father's (age 59), where met with Swan [Map],-[William Swan [Map] is called a fanatic and a very rogue in other parts of the Diary.]-an old hypocrite, and with him, his friend and my father, and my cozen Scott to the Bear Tavern. To my father's and to bed.

Pepy's Diary. 29 Oct 1660. I up early, it being my Lord Mayor's day1, (Sir Richd. Browne (age 58)), and neglecting my office I went to the Wardrobe, where I met my Lady Sandwich (age 35) and all the children; and after drinking of some strange and incomparable good clarett of Mr. Rumball's he and Mr. Townsend did take us, and set the young Lords at one Mr. Nevill's, a draper in Paul's churchyard; and my Lady and my Lady Pickering (age 34) and I to one Mr. Isaacson's, a linendraper at the Key in Cheapside; where there was a company of fine ladies, and we were very civilly treated, and had a very good place to see the pageants, which were many, and I believe good, for such kind of things, but in themselves but poor and absurd. After the ladies were placed I took Mr. Townsend and Isaacson to the next door, a tavern, and did spend 5s. upon them. The show being done, we got as far as Paul's with much ado, where I left my Lady in the coach, and went on foot with my Lady Pickering to her lodging, which was a poor one in Blackfryars, where she never invited me to go in at all, which methought was very strange for her to do. So home, where I was told how my Lady Davis is now come to our next lodgings, and has locked up the leads door from me, which puts me into so great a disquiet that I went to bed, and could not sleep till morning at it.

Note 1. When the calendar was reformed in England by the act 24 Geo. II. c. 23, different provisions were made as regards those anniversaries which affect directly the rights of property and those which do not. Thus the old quarter days are still noted in our almanacs, and a curious survival of this is brought home to payers of income tax. The fiscal year still begins on old Lady-day, which now falls on April 6th. All ecclesiastical fasts and feasts and other commemorations which did not affect the rights of property were left on their nominal days, such as the execution of Charles I on January 30th and the restoration of Charles II on May 29th. The change of Lord Mayor's day from the 29th of October to the 9th of November was not made by the act for reforming the calendar (c. 23), but by another act of the same session (c. 48), entitled "An Act for the Abbreviation of Michaelmas Term", by which it was enacted, "that from and after the said feast of St. Michael, which shall be in the year 1752, the said solemnity of presenting and swearing the mayors of the city of London, after every annual election into the said office, in the manner and form heretofore used on the 29th day of October, shall be kept and observed on the ninth day of November in every year, unless the same shall fall on a Sunday, and in that case on the day following".

Pepy's Diary. 17 Nov 1660. In the morning to Whitehall, where I inquired at the Privy Seal Office for a form for a nobleman to make one his Chaplain. But I understanding that there is not any, I did draw up one, and so to my Lord's, and there I did give him it to sign for Mr. Turner to be his first Chaplain. I did likewise get my Lord to sign my last sea accounts, so that I am even to this day when I have received the balance of [her future son-in-law] Mr. Creed. I dined with my Lady and my Lady Pickering (age 34), where her son John dined with us, who do continue a fool as he ever was since I knew him. His mother would fain marry him to get a portion for his sister Betty but he will not hear of it. Hither came Major Hart this noon, who tells me that the Regiment is now disbanded, and that there is some money coming to me for it. I took him to my Lord to Mr. Crew's (age 62), and from thence with Mr. Shepley and Mr. Moore to the Devil Tavern [Map], and there we drank. So home and wrote letters by the post. Then to my lyra viall1, and to bed.

Note 1. The lyre viol is a viol with extra open bass strings, holding the same relation to the viol as the theorbo does to the lute. A volume entitled "Musick's Recreation on the Lyra Viol", was printed by John Playford (age 37) in 1650.

Pepy's Diary. 15 Sep 1663. Thence to Brampton to my father's, and there found all well, but not sensible how they ought to treat my uncle and his son, at least till the Court be over, which vexed me, but on my counsel they carried it fair to them; and so my father, cozen Thomas, and I up to Hinchingbroke [Map], where I find my Lord and his company gone to Boughton, Northamptonshire, which vexed me; but there I find my Lady and the young ladies, and there I alone with my Lady two hours, she carrying me through every part of the house and gardens, which are, and will be, mighty noble indeed. Here I saw Mrs. Betty Pickering (age 37), who is a very well-bred and comely lady, but very fat.

Great Plague of London

Pepy's Diary. 12 Jul 1665. After doing what business I could in the morning, it being a solemn fast-day1 for the plague growing upon us, I took boat and down to Deptford, Kent [Map], where I stood with great pleasure an houre or two by my Lady Sandwich's (age 40) bedside, talking to her (she lying prettily in bed) of my Lady Jemimah's being from my Lady Pickering's (age 39) when our letters come to that place; she being at my Lord Montagu's, at Boughton, Northamptonshire. The truth is, I had received letters of it two days ago, but had dropped them, and was in a very extraordinary straite what to do for them, or what account to give my Lady, but sent to every place; I sent to Moreclacke, where I had been the night before, and there they were found, which with mighty joy come safe to me; but all ending with satisfaction to my Lady and me, though I find my Baroness Carteret (age 63) not much pleased with this delay, and principally because of the plague, which renders it unsafe to stay long at Deptford, Kent [Map].

Note 1. "A form of Common Prayer; together with an order for fasting for the averting of God's heavy visitation upon many places of this realm. The fast to be observed within the cities of London and Westminster and places adjacent, on Wednesday the twelfth of this instant July, and both there and in all parts of this realm on the first Wednesday in every month during the visitation" ("Calendar of State Papers", Domestic, 1664-65, p. 466).

Pepy's Diary. 14 Jul 1668. At noon home to dinner, and thence all the afternoon hard at the office, we meeting about the Victualler's new contract; and so into the garden, my Lady Pen (age 44), Mrs. Turner (age 45) and her daughter, my wife and I, and there supped in the dark and were merry, and so to bed. This day Bossc finished his copy of my picture, which I confess I do not admire, though my wife prefers him to Browne; nor do I think it like. He do it for W. Hewer (age 26), who hath my wife's also, which I like less. This afternoon my Lady Pickering (age 42) come to see us: I busy, saw her not. But how natural it is for us to slight people out of power, and for people out of power to stoop to see those that while in power they contemned!

Pepy's Diary. 29 Jul 1668. Busy all the morning at the office. So home to dinner, where Mercer, and there comes Mr. Swan, my old acquaintance, and dines with me, and tells me, for a certainty, that Creed is to marry Betty Pickering (age 42), and that the thing is concluded, which I wonder at, and am vexed for. So he gone I with my wife and two girls to the King's house, and saw "The Mad Couple", a mean play altogether, and thence to Hyde Parke, where but few coaches, and so to the New Exchange, and thence by water home, with much pleasure, and then to sing in the garden, and so home to bed, my eyes for these four days being my trouble, and my heart thereby mighty sad.

Pepy's Diary. 13 Aug 1668. Thence I to the Office, where all the afternoon [morning??], and then to dinner, where W. Howe dined with me, who tells me for certain that Creed is like to speed in his match with Mrs. Betty Pickering (age 42). Here dined with me also Mr. Hollier (age 59), who is mighty vain in his pretence to talk Latin.

On 21 Oct 1668 [her husband] Gilbert Pickering 1st Baronet (age 57) died.

Pepy's Diary. 18 Mar 1669. Thence to visit Ned Pickering (age 51) and his lady (age 36), and Creed and his wife, but the former abroad, and the latter out of town, gone to my Lady Pickering's (age 43) in Northamptonshire, upon occasion of the late death of their brother, Oliver Pickering, a youth, that is dead of the smallpox. So my wife and I to Dancre's (age 44) to see the pictures; and thence to Hyde Park, the first time we were there this year, or ever in our own coach, where with mighty pride rode up and down, and many coaches there; and I thought our horses and coach as pretty as any there, and observed so to be by others. Here staid till night, and so home, and to the office, where busy late, and so home to supper and to bed, with great content, but much business in my head of the office, which troubles me.

1715. Memorial to various members of the Montagu family erected by Elizabeth Montagu (age 89) at All Saints Church, Barnwell [Map].

William de Morgan and his Wife Chapter 5. Sir Gilbert died in 1613; and in Cromwellian times his grandson. Sir Gilbert, Baronet of Nova Scotia, and a brother John, of Gray's Inn, were prominent Parliamentarians. The former, to whom his cousin John Dryden, the poet1, was secretary, sat in the Long Parliament, being also one of the Protector's Council, and of his House of Lords. He was moreover one of the Judges of Charles I, but he attended the trial only at the outset, and was not of those who signed the death warrant. Thus at the Restoration, although he was declared incapable of holding pubhc office, he escaped more drastic punishment through the intervention of his brother-in-law, Edward Montague, Earl of Sandwich; indeed Pepys tells us how he received from Lady Pickering 'wrapped up in a paper, £5 in silver' to induce him to use his influence with her brother, 'my Lord, on behalf of her misguided husband.'

Note 1. The connexion between the two Puritan famihes of Dryden and Pickering was a double one. Not only did a Dryden take to wife a Pickering [Mary Pickering], who became the mother of the poet, but a Pickering took to wife a Dryden. 'The home of John Dryden,' we are told,' was at Tichmarsh, where his father, a younger son of the first baronet of Canons Ashby, had settled. Here he had married into the leading family of the place, the Pickerings, who resided at the great house. His wife was Mary, first cousin of Sir Gilbert, the head of the family, and daughter of Henry Pickering, rector of Aldwincle All Saints, and it was at her father's rectory that, in 1631, John, the eldest of her fourteen children, was born. An alliance between the Drydens and the Pickerings was the more natural in that both familes were strongly Puritan, and took the side of the Parliament in the Civil War.' — Highways and Byways in Northamptonshire, by Herbert A. Evans, p. 71.

Royal Ancestors of Elizabeth Montagu 1626-

Kings Wessex: Great x 18 Grand Daughter of King Edmund "Ironside" I of England

Kings Gwynedd: Great x 22 Grand Daughter of Maredudd ab Owain King Deheubarth King Powys King Gwynedd

Kings Seisyllwg: Great x 24 Grand Daughter of Hywel "Dda aka Good" King Seisyllwg King Deheubarth

Kings Powys: Great x 22 Grand Daughter of Maredudd ab Owain King Deheubarth King Powys King Gwynedd

Kings England: Great x 10 Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England

Kings Scotland: Great x 17 Grand Daughter of King Duncan I of Scotland

Kings Franks: Great x 14 Grand Daughter of Louis VII King Franks

Kings France: Great x 18 Grand Daughter of Robert "Pious" II King France

Ancestors of Elizabeth Montagu 1626-

Great x 4 Grandfather: John Montagu 4 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Great x 3 Grandfather: William Ladde Montagu 5 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandmother: Alice Holcot

Great x 2 Grandfather: Thomas Montagu 6 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Great x 1 Grandfather: Edward Montagu 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Richard Dudley

Great x 3 Grandfather: William Dudley

Great x 2 Grandmother: Agnes Dudley

GrandFather: Edward Montagu 8 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Edmund Roper

Great x 3 Grandfather: John Roper

Great x 2 Grandfather: John Roper of Well Hall

Great x 1 Grandmother: Helen Roper

Father: Sidney Montagu 9 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Robert Harrington

Great x 3 Grandfather: John Harrington

Great x 2 Grandfather: John Alexander Harrington

Great x 1 Grandfather: James Harrington

Great x 3 Grandfather: Robert Moton of Peckleton in Leicestershire

Great x 2 Grandmother: Elizabeth Moton

GrandMother: Elizabeth Harrington

Great x 4 Grandfather: William IV Sidney

Great x 3 Grandfather: Nicholas Sidney

Great x 2 Grandfather: William Sidney

Great x 4 Grandfather: William Brandon

Great x 3 Grandmother: Anne Brandon

Great x 1 Grandmother: Lucy Sidney

Great x 4 Grandfather: John Pakenham

Great x 3 Grandfather: Hugh Pakenham

Great x 2 Grandmother: Anne Pakenham

Elizabeth Montagu 10 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England

Great x 2 Grandfather: William Pepys of Cottenham

Great x 1 Grandfather: William Pepys of Cottenham

GrandFather: John Pepys of Impington

Mother: Paulina Pepys